2017.6.10. Xamarin Dev Day

6/10, Saturday. Thunderstorm briefly. I was almost late, even though I budget 20 minutes extra. Police had blocked a street where my bus line is. The Grand Flora Parade was expected, and people were already lining up their lawn chairs.

Xamarin Dev Day is hosted by Viewpoint Construction Software. Lunch is sponsored by Microsoft (pretty lousy: subway sandwich). Speakers are from Viewpoint. I left before the reception, with my raffle prize of a mini drone.

The event is to entice developer to use Xamarin and Microsoft Visio Studio (both free, for community version). The goal is most likely so you'd be using Azure for the Cloud service. Every big players are competing in the Cloud space. There're $100 coupons for Azure you can take.

I'm impressed with how easy is to use Xamarin in Visio Studio (one of the extensions - all free). Before Microsoft acquired Xamarin, this is one expensive piece of software, which allows you to write one app and with minimal modification, deploy to 3 platforms (iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone). The test cloud is also very handy and easy to use. I attended the first half of the hands-on lab, cutting and pasting code following the instruction (well written, with one bug). Got the app to run on my Android phone. Still need to go home and understand how they relate to each other, especially that I've never programmed in C# before. Overall a well run class. Certainly got the message across.

After the event, I went to check out FINDpdx, benefiting Bradley Angle, a local nonprofit supporting survivors of domestic violence. Looks like a rummage sale, but with brand new items. You find price online, and then pay 50%. Clothing and electronic gadgets, some insect repellent (I bought a bottle). I had 20 minutes before they closed. Spent ~$30. This will continue on Sunday.

Went to International Rose Test Garden afterwards. Roses are blooming nicely. Lots of people. Construction is still going on.

2017.6.9. Paula Pondstone promotes her book at Powell's

6/9, Friday, 7pm. I went to Powell's Cedar Hills store for an author reading event. As I was walking in the store (10 minutes late), I heard this familiar voice, loud and clear. I searched my mind of who that might be. I didn't write down on my calendar who the author was, only went because of the funny title "Totally Unscientific Study of Happiness". Once I saw Paula Poundstone's name on the book cover, it dawned on me, that I heard her at Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.

Paula is very funny and candid. Tireless, a bit verbose, she kept talking, more than the store manager liked. She also read a section of her book about watching movie together with her 3 children for a day. I don't know why would anyone buy the book. It's fun to hear her reading it while making comment. More of a rant.

2017.6.7. Home Made Soda

Saundra Kamman of HerbN Tea led a class in the central library to learn two different methods for creating your own personal sodas. First is syrup (infused flowers like Lavender or fruits like cucumber) + soda water. The 2nd is more interesting. Everyone got hands on chopping and pouring for the latter, and each of us brought a bottle home. Here's a basic ginger ale recipe:

Chop organic ginger to small (mm) size - no peeling needed.
Cook in filtered or distilled water for some time.
Cool to room temperature.
Add organic or wild honey (unfiltered). Mix well.

In each 1-litre plastic bottle -- has to be plastic for elasticity, add 1/4 teaspoon of wine yeast.
Pour above liquid till 1/4 of bottle.
Fill with still water.
Wait ~1 day, depending on temperature, until the pressure of fermentation making the bottle very hard.

After a day, I drank some, added the juice of one grapefruit to feed the bacteria, and put in fridge. The bottle re-pressurized quickly. I drank some (diluted with water) every day for a week.

2017.6.4. Mount Pilchuck and Heather Lake

6/4, Sunday. Cloudy. Lured by a mostly sunny forecast, headed to Mount Pilchuck in thick clouds, hoping for an amazing 360° view later in the afternoon. Last time I came here, it was 8 years ago.

First half of the trail is rock and some mud. Then it's soft snow and occasionally big boulders. I used micro-spikes, but probably not necessary. Trekking poles are definitely useful. Half of the people on the slope today didn't use any traction device. A few skiers. The door to the Lookout is open, but shutters are down, so you cannot see any view from the inside. Walk around the deck, and then go in to consult the name of the peaks. For us, it's too cloudy to see much. Little wind today. Pleasant temperature. Walked east to a ledge, where skiers were going down the gully. One dog refused to go down the steep slope. His owner had to backtrack up and then walk down with her dog, who also has problem on boulders. On the way down, she and a few of us went down a bit too much (me on my butt glisading), and lost the track. Had to consult my GPS map to climb backup to the trail. Despite the overhanging dark clouds, the hike was fun, certainly more interesting than the dust of summer.

The access road to Mt Pilchuck is mostly gravel (~7 miles with potholes). However, after the sign of "Damaged Road", it is paved, just old pavement. This is the same access road (~1.4 miles) to Heather Lake. So when we drove by on the way in, the parking lot was overflowing. On the way out, there were only about 5 cars. It was close to 6pm. Only 2 miles to the lake. Dry trail soon turned into water and mud. Lots of rocks, and dead trees. Snow appeared as you come down towards the lake basin. The lake is beautiful as ever. Just not many places you could stand close to the shore, either swamping or bushy. The boardwalk was mostly under snow. A duck couple.

Sun set on the way back to I-5. Now the sky is clear of clouds. A bit too late!

2017.6.3. Ed Viesturs at Gear Junkie Tour

6/3, Saturday. Ed Viesturs joined Gear Junkie's Live Your Adventure Tour for their last tour stop in Seattle.

4:30-6:30 at The Mountaineers's south climbing plaza. Ed showed total beginners like me how to make two basic knots: Figure 8 and Butterfly. He's very easy going and patient. Gear Junkie provides ropes and harnesses. I was able to climb a wall (wait in queue) while one of the Gear Junkie employee holding the rope on the other end. Afterwards, everyone was given a buff and two raffle tickets, and I and many others asked Ed to sign it.

7pm, event moved to Eddie Bauer store in University Village. I didn't want to be at the store too early, so went to check out the very first Amazon Books nearby. It's been a year and half, since Amazon opened this brick-and-mortar premise. Very busy this Saturday evening. Quite a few sales person walking around and asking if I needed help. Everything (except for maybe magazines) lists user ratings on Amazon. Only the highest rated items are stocked in store. Most are books, but also gadgets like Kindle, Fire TV, Echo, Bose headsets, USB cables, batteries. There're also a few sections arranged as "if you like this" - the left most book on the shelf, "you'll like these" - the rest of the shelf. Around the walls and windows are steps to sit, with Kindle Fire on the side for you to use if needed. Comfortable space to while away time, while browsing the books and magazines.

This Eddie Bauer store is quite small for an event. Not many people showed up, maybe two dozens. Gear Junkie gave everyone in the Eddie Bauer store another raffle ticket, and showed a few events and outdoor groups in Seattle on screen. Ed spoke of First Accent line of clothing since he's an Eddie Bauer Athlete. He then hung around for a bit chatting with whoever wants to talk to him, and later with the owner of GearJunkie. He left during the raffle. Here’re the gears that were raffling away!

- Maximus Duffel - 45L
- Alchemist 40 Backpack
- Stargazer 2-Person Tent
- Flying Squirrel 40° Sleeping Bag
- Cenote Bladder - 3L

And some Eddie Bauer gift cards and GearJunkie T-shirts. I got a $25 gift card.